Boston Work Injury Watch: Top 10 Work Accidents in 2012

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced their preliminary picks for the Top 10 most commonly cited workplace safety and health violations for this year.
“While great progress has been made in safety over the past 100 years, today’s presentation reminds us there is more to be done to make our workplaces safer,” said Janet Froetscher, CEO and President of the National Safety Council (NSC).

Our Quincy workers’ compensation attorneys understand that there are close to 15 people a day, or about 90 people a week, who never get to come home from work. As a matter of fact, there were more than 4,000 workers who were killed on the job in 2011. That means that close to 4 people were killed for every 100,000 full-time equivalent employees. That may not seem like a lot to you, but when you think about how many millions of employees we have here in the United States, those 4 workers per group must be better protected. This most recent statistic shows a slight increase in the number of work fatalities from the previous year.

“Every year in America, nearly 4 million people suffer a workplace injury from which some may never recover. These are preventable tragedies that disable our workers, devastate our families, and damage our economy,” said Hilda Solis, the Secretary of Labor.
Top Safety and Health Violations for 2012:

-Fall Protection: Close to 7,500 violations.

-Hazard Communication: Close to 5,000 violations.

-Scaffolding: Close to 4,000 violations.

-Respiratory Protection: Close to 2,500 violations.

-Ladder: More than 2,300 violations.

-Machine Guarding: More than 2,000 violations.

-Powered Industrial Trucks: Close to 2,000 violations.

-Electrical (Wiring Methods): Close to 1,750 violations.

-Tagout/Logout: More than 1,500 violations.

-Electrical (General Requirements) More than 1,330 violations.

The final report on these violations and the top violations for the year will be published later in December in the Council’s Safety+Health magazine.

Out of the workplace fatalities that occurred in 2011, more than 17 percent of them happened in the construction industry. Out of these accidents, falls, electrocutions, struck by object and being caught in or between were considered as the “Fatal Four.”

In 2011, there were more than 40,500 safety and health inspections made at workplaces across the country. Still, we saw thousands of workplace fatalities.

American workers aren’t here to play games and they’re not waiting around for a free lunch. Employees throughout the country are spending their days and nights working hard to make a real difference. They’re working hard to provide for their families. And they’re working hard to make sure they’re not injured or killed on the job. We hope that employers across the country are doing the same. It’s their job — by law.If you or a loved one has been injured or killed on the job, call the Law Offices of Jeffrey S. Glassman for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your workers’ compensation case — 1-888-367-2900.

Disclaimer – The settlements above are only a sample of cases represented by our office. Each case is different and the amount of a potential resolution of your case will vary considerably depending on a substantial amount of factors. Some case results were worked in conjunction with partnering law firms.